Various Artists: Koozies, Woodies, and Beers: A Brah/Ocropolis Benefit Compilation for Japan Relief
We quickly abandoned the idea of being Brooklyn’s backing band and decided that straight recordings - kind of a Brooklyn waterfront Peel session - would be a better and more interesting goal. Bands would be given four hours to set up and record their track and then allotted four additional hours for mixing. Even within the imposed limits on the project, we vastly underestimated the time and resources this project would require. We also kept adding bands; we couldn’t say no. After all was said and done, twenty two bands recorded material over the course of three months in 2010. We mixed about half of these and then we burned out. Everything stopped. I can’t even remember why - but about 12 sessions remained in the can, untouched.

Cut to about a year later, the Ocropolis’s imminent destruction looming, and our shame at setting aside the project drove us back into the studio to finish. We had to cut a couple tracks from the comp for copyright reasons - so we’re left with 20. All bands generously agreed to donate proceeds from the compilation to two Japanese charities (Ashinaga and JOICFP) picked for us by Shinji Masuko from DMBQ and Boredoms. So welcome to Koozies, Woodies and Beer - An Ocropolis Japan Benefit Project. NOTES: A Koozie is a foam insulator used to keep your beer (or alternative beverage cold). Required for all beers consumed at the Ocropolis. A Woodie is the Oneida name for an electric combo organ from the 60s and 70s. It must contain some wood. The Ocropolis probably contains at least 20.

People of the North: Steep Formations
The idea for this record, Masuko’s first solo work, was born during preparations for a series of Boredoms concerts in 2009 when Shinji played Kid Millions (of Oneida and Brah Records) some backing tracks he’d created for the Boredoms’ current concert piece - Boadrum. For a short section of the live performance an incredible mass of multi-tracked droning guitars is mixed into the pounding chaos of the 9 person, multi-drummer ensemble. Shiji played Millions this unadorned recording while they were between rehearsals at Shinji’s home in Osaka and Kid was astounded, convinced that this music needed to be heard on its own.

People of the North: Deep Tissue
made them a stronger, more creative and more dedicated band. They are fiercely loyal to Pittsburgh, yet theirguitar player lives in Brooklyn. Their live shows are noisy, messy affairs, but their albums contain surprisingmoments of quiet lucidity.While they are equally influenced by both American and British art punk (The Fall,Pere Ubu) and 1970's classic rock (Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top), along with (of course) a healthy admiration for theprimal rock of Iggy & the Stooges, AC/DC and everything hip hop, they manage to boil these influences downinto something at once recognizable yet wholly their own.Originally founded in 1997 by singer T Glitter as a way to set his lyrics to his idea of what punk rock meant backthen, the band soon became known for their energetic, often confrontational live shows. Band lineups shifted,but core members Tricky Powers and Glitter have remained constants. Their first album, Covered in Lime(Rickety Records, 1998), was described by Index magazine as “classic Rust Belt punk, a frenzied take on drug useand crumbling relationships in a city where everybody knows everybody.” The album made the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s year-end Top Albums list. In 2002 the band released their second album—the less conventional, moreexperimental More Lies (Rickety Records, 2002)—to favorable reviews, while the live shows maintained theirscary nature. “A reconfigured Dirty Faces swooped into New York recently and blazed through a set of new songswith twin metal guitarists riffing practically the entire time. The unsuspecting audience left with jaws on theground.”—Pat Sullivan, Index magazineAfter solidifying their lineup a week before entering the studio in fall 2003, Superamerican was recorded betweenOctober 2003 and April 2005 by three different engineers in three US cities. Its 13 songs manage to span the widerange of stylistic and emotional reference points of the Dirty Faces, from the spastic no wave of “Headlights” tothe quiet, Beat Happening-esque introspection of “High Holy Days” to the lighters-held-high stadium anthem“Amplify (like a prayer).”

Company: Parallel Time
the legendary East Village bar Nine-C in an ongoing residency. Here Company made sounds removed from the contemporary musicalmain street that defied past categorization. “Folk rock is the label closest to Company's sound, but their rock references are more Clash,Joy Division, and Meat Puppets than ‘60s California,” Pat Sullivan wrote in Index magazine, attempting to sum it up. He added,“Company derive their musical muscle from the folk side of the formula. The best folk singers have the power to rivet a room’s attentionon the cadences of a vocal inflection or the change of a single chord, and each member of Company has this power in spades.”With aseemingly conventional four-piece guitar rock lineup, Company can be found wandering and improvising through traditional and innovativemusical styles, but they are always grounded and unified by the songwriter’s original vision. Company’s members—Adam Davison,David Janik, Christopher Teret and Stephanie Rabins—used these open-ended Nine-C shows like a workshop to develop rough sketchesinto masterful songs, playing to the audience’s mood as well as to their requests. Following the tragic closing of Nine-C in 2003, Companyfound another small stage to take on a weekly basis at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg. These pint-sized settings inform their sound,which is as intimate and homey as it is profound and even ominous at times. The results are songs that fill the room like intoxicated partyconversation—loud and soft, wildly silly then suddenly private and sincere. In Time Out New York, Sara Marcus lauded, “the band’s phenomenalweekly concerts in that cozy back room showed a group of musicians who are deeply at ease with their soundâ€¦impressive performancesfrom a generous, chilled-out band.” Staying true to the spirit of the band’s name, Company’s live shows are all about a communityof friends and fans having a good old time together.